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Heritage Stories

Heritage Stories

The Beet Harvest, Emile Claus, 1890 - © Mudel, Deinze

Emile Claus, Beet Harvest

According to the legend behind *Beet Harvest*, the Impressionist painter Emile Claus unfurled a gigantic canvas in the fields near his Villa Zonneschijn in the late 19th century in order to paint a scene of farmers harvesting beets. He is said to have then lowered the canvas into a ditch, so that at the top

Hunting Scene, Frans Snijders, c. 1600–1650 – Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille – © Wikimedia Commons

Animal Art

Wild boars and deer, fighting for their lives during the hunt. Lavish still lifes of fish catches and hunting trophies. In the 17th century, painters such as Frans Snijders and Clara Peeters placed animals at the center of their work for the first time. Animal art developed into a genre in its own right. For hunting scenes and still lifes featuring animals by Frans Snijders and

Polish School on Nachtegalenstraat, Genk - Memory of Genk Collection, Emile Van Doren Museum

Polish miners

The novel *Zosja* (2020) by Limburg-based author Arlette Henek tells the story of her grandmother, who moved from Poland to Belgium as a young woman during the interwar period. She followed her husband, who had found work in the Waterschei coal mine. He was one of the tens of thousands of Poles who

The interior of the Gravenkapel - © Wikimedia Commons

The Counts' Chapel

The Counts’ Chapel is part of the Church of Our Lady in Kortrijk. The Flemish Count Louis of Male had it built in 1371. The chapel owes its name to the niches containing painted portraits of the counts of Flanders, who from the 9th to the early 15th century were a (relatively)

Gravestone of Abraham Neuman, born in Poland, 1917 – Wikimedia Commons, photo by Moïse Abramovitch

Dieweg Jewish Cemetery

Anyone who goes to live abroad may also die there. It is no coincidence that perhaps the oldest physical trace of the Jewish presence in Belgium is a gravestone dating from 1255–1256. It was found in Tienen and bears a Hebrew inscription: “A stone was engraved and placed at the head of

Street slang is now a youth language that is constantly evolving - © Taalhelden.org

City slang

From the very beginning, the 20th-century mining villages or cités in Limburg formed a world of their own, dependent on and tailored to coal mining. The mining companies exercised paternalistic control over their cités. For example, they employed security guards or mine guards to ensure that the miners properly maintained their rental homes.

A scene from the 2017 Virga Jesse Festival - Virga Jesse Committee - kerknet.be

Virga Jesse Festival in Hasselt

In Hasselt, a procession has been held every seven years during the month of August since 1682. The procession is in honor of Virga Jesse, as Mary is known there. During the Virga Jesse festivities, the people of Hasselt carry a 14th-century oak statue of the Virgin Mary through the decorated streets. It is one of the